Sen. Lee Floor statement: FILLING THE SUPREME COURT VACANCY
(Republican - Utah)
03/09/16"In my view, the future of the Supreme Court is now at stake, and the election for our next President is also, of course, well underway already. So it is the people who should determine what kind of Supreme Court they wish to have."

Sen. Cornyn: American People Should Decide Future of Supreme Court
(Republican - Texas)
03/08/16In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) addressed the importance of letting the American people have a voice in who selects the next Supreme Court justice this November. ..."It's important to allow the voters, in choosing the next President of the United States, make that decision and make sure their voice is heard rather than just 100 members of the Senate.”

Sen. Lee: Let American people decide on Supreme Court
(Republican - Utah)
03/07/16"The president is entitled, of course, to discharge his own constitutional authority to nominate. But it is the Senate’s constitutional prerogative to withhold consent and protect the People’s voice."

Sen. Grassley Floor Remarks on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act
(Republican - Iowa)
03/03/16"And because we have this bill on the floor, I also asked the Democrats on the committee to hold our weekly Judiciary Committee business meeting over here in the Capitol building instead of in the committee meeting room. ... we could have voted out some judges.... I understand that they're protesting the Judiciary Committee's lack of action on a Supreme Court nomination, a nomination we couldn't even possibly consider if the President doesn't send it up. So I imagine that this is just the first of several problems that we're going to have in the next few weeks."

Sen. Ron Johnson on filling Supreme Court and Wisconsin Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacancies
(Republican - Wisconsin)
03/03/16U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is standing by his position that the next president should nominate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s replacement, despite poll results indicating most Wisconsin voters disagree. "I’m a pretty principled guy," Johnson said at an event in Madison on Wednesday. "I mean what I say."... Johnson, however, defended his position as "imminently reasonable." "We know what the result would be," he said. "I think it’s pretty obvious, the type of justice that President (Barack) Obama would nominate."
He pointed to Obama’s appointments of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan as examples of the president’s preference for what Johnson called "super legislators" for the bench, rather than judges. ... In a letter (link is external) made public Tuesday, 48 professors from Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin law schools urged Johnson to allow the appointment of Donald K. Schott to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to move forward.... Fallone, who lost a race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2013, said the letter was not intended as an attack on Johnson and that he did not believe Johnson planned to block Schott's nomination. Johnson, however, left that option open in brief comments to reporters in Madison. He blamed Baldwin for endangering Schott's nomination when she forwarded his name to the president without Johnson's consent. "She violated the confidentiality of the process and really put that 7th Circuit nominee at risk," Johnson said. However, he also called Schott "a good man."

Sen. Toomey at CPAC on Supreme Court vacancy
(Republican - Pennsylvania)
03/03/16Amanda Reilly, E&E reporter: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who linked stagnant wages with businesses' increased regulatory burden, promised the Senate would confirm a "Justice Scalia replacement that is like Justice Scalia in 2017," echoing Republican leadership's promises that the Senate will not confirm any replacement that Obama nominates.
"The Republican majority in the Senate will not allow the Supreme Court to flip. You can take that to the bank," Johnson said.
Johnson, who faces a tough re-election fight, further said that there was "no such thing as moderate judges," suggesting that any judges who find the Clean Power Plan to be legal are "super-legislators" not following the Constitution."

Sen. Isakson Floor statement: FILLING THE SUPREME COURT VACANCY
(Republican - Georgia)
03/02/16"The Constitution tells us that the President shall make an appointment, or a nomination, to fill that vacancy and the Senate shall offer its advice and consent. There is no deadline or trigger date.... It is only appropriate that the Supreme Court majority, as it is cast, be made up of nine people, five of whom are in the majority, who were appointed freely and without political influence, judged for their best political and legal acumen and in the best interest of the country.... It is only right that we have the best and most contemporarily appointed Court that we could possibly have, and the only way to do that is to make sure that the next President makes the appointment."

Sen. Scott: The will of the people must prevail
(Republican - South Carolina)
03/02/16"This election should be seen as a great opportunity for the people to tell government exactly what they want from the Supreme Court in the decades to come. It is our next President, who should be responsible for nominating our next Justice to ensure that the people’s wants of the future, not of the past, are clearly represented."

Sen. McConnell Floor Statement: FILLING THE SUPREME COURT VACANCY
(Republican - Kentucky)
03/01/16"Senator Grassley, and I will meet with President Obama later this morning. We will reiterate that the American people will have a voice in the vacancy on the Supreme Court as they choose the next President, who in turn will nominate the next Supreme Court Justice."

Sen. Hatch Floor statement: FILLING THE SUPREME COURT VACANCY
(Republican - Utah)
03/01/16" The Constitution does not mandate a particular process to address this Supreme Court vacancy. We have to look all the way back to the 19th century to find a year in which the Senate confirmed a Supreme Court nominee of the other party in a Presidential election year."

Sen. Grassley Statement after Meeting with President Obama on Supreme Court Vacancy
(Republican - Iowa)
03/01/16“Whether everybody in the meeting today wanted to admit it, we all know that considering a nomination in the middle of a heated presidential campaign is bad for the nominee, bad for the court, bad for the process, and ultimately bad for the nation. It’s time for the people to voice their opinion about the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system of government.”

Sen. Grassley: Coequal Branches of Government
(Republican - Iowa)
03/01/16"The American people deserve the opportunity during this election year to weigh in on whether the next Justice should apply the text and original meaning of the Constitution"

Sen. Rounds Weekly Column: Justice Scalia: The Gold Standard
(Republican - South Dakota)
02/26/16"I have determined that my benchmark for the next Supreme Court Justice will be Justice Scalia himself. Scalia’s strict interpretation of the Constitution and deference to states’ rights set a gold standard by which his replacement should be measured.
Recently, every Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee—which is in charge of reviewing court nominations—sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressing their firm belief that the people of the United States deserve to have a voice in determining the next Supreme Court justice.... As a result, the committee does not plan on holding any hearings related to this issue until after the election in November. This decision will allow the American people to have a voice in the next Supreme Court Justice based upon who they elect as president in the upcoming election."

Sen. Grassley Floor statement: WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES RULE AND FILLING THE SUPREME COURT VACANCY
(Republican - Iowa)
02/25/16"The President packed the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which reviews these regulations, so they are going to have a friendly judge who says that whatever these bureaucrats do that may even be illegal or unconstitutional, they can get away with it.... The American people can decide whether they want another Justice who just decides cases based on what they feel in their ``heart,'' and who buys into this notion of a ``living Constitution,'' or whether they want a man or woman who believes the text means what it says"

Sen. Vitter: ICYMI: No Hearings For Any Obama SCOTUS Nominees (Videos)
(Republican - Louisiana)
02/25/16Senator David Vitter (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, explains why the Committee’s Republican members will be exercising their constitutional authority to withhold consent of a Supreme Court nomination and will not hold hearings on a Supreme Court nominee until the next President is sworn in.

Sen. Enzi: The American people should decide on next U.S. Supreme Court justice
(Republican - Wyoming)
02/25/16"The Constitution gives the Senate the right to make decisions on a Supreme Court nominee. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has announced the committee’s intention to exercise its constitutional authority to withhold consent on a nominee submitted by this president. I believe the American people should decide the direction of the Supreme Court.”

Sen. Collins on filling Scalia Supreme Court vacancy
(Republican - Maine)
02/25/16“This is a very serious issue,” Sen. Susan Collins said in a telephone interview Thursday from Washington, D.C. “This isn’t deciding whether this should be National Apple Pie Week.” “For anyone to say, no matter who is sent up by the president as his nominee, that we will not consider that person, does not strike me as consistent with our constitutional obligations.” “Is the leadership happy with me right now? Decidedly not,” Collins said. “But they know that there will be other times when I agree with their position. And they also know by now that I just have to do what I think is right.” “I thought it was a shame … that instead of honoring his life and legacy and extending our condolences (to Scalia’s grieving family), already we were embroiled in a political fight,’ she said. “And I’ll tell you, I heard widespread support for my making that point.” “Democrats as well as Republicans have been guilty of this in the past,” Collins said. “I think we need to get beyond that and back to the institutional roles that the Constitution intends for us to play.”
Collins got a call from Biden this week. Not to twist her arm, but rather just to “touch base.”
And?
“The only point I made was they need to send up a nominee who is in the mainstream, who has impeccable credentials and is a person of integrity with great respect for the Constitution and the rule of law,” Collins said. “I’ve voted for some, I’ve opposed others,” she said. “But it can’t be a reflexive decision that is made before we even know who the candidate is going to be. That is not the way our system should work.” “I’m sure in a few days the leader will be speaking to me again,” Collins mused.